Card personalization systems and methods used in producing personalized cards and other personalized identity documents have been employed by institutions that issue such documents. Identity documents which are often personalized by such systems and methods includes plastic and composite cards, such as financial (e.g. credit and debit) cards, drivers' licenses, national identification cards, and other cards and documents which are personalized with information unique to the intended document holder.
Card personalization systems and methods can be designed for small scale, individual card personalization and production. In these systems, a single card to be personalized is input into a personalization machine, which typically includes one or two personalization/production capabilities, such as printing and laminating.
For large volume, batch production of cards, institutions often utilize systems that employ multiple processing stations or modules to process multiple cards at the same time to reduce the overall per card processing time. Examples of such systems includes the DataCard 9000 series available from DataCard Corporation of Minneapolis, Minn., the system disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,825,054, and the system disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,266,781 and its progeny. Common to each of these types of systems is an input with the ability to hold a relatively large number of cards that are to be personalized/produced, a plurality of personalization/production stations through which each card is directed to perform a personalization/production operation, and an output that holds the personalized cards. Personalization and production operations that are typically performed on the cards include the programming of data onto a magnetic stripe of the card, monochromatic and/or color printing, programming an integrated circuit chip in the card, embossing, and applying various topcoat and protective layers. A controller is typically employed to transfer data information and instructions for operating the input, the personalization/production stations, and the output.
In batch card personalization and production systems, such as the DataCard 9000 series, data integrity (e.g. ensuring that the correct data is placed onto the proper card), and system reliability and performance are important. Any improvements in these areas, including improvements in the personalization process and the modules used to implement the process, will improve the utility of batch card personalization and production systems.
The present invention, as described hereinbelow, provides improvements upon one or more of the above described existing and previous card personalization systems.